Wedding Bets
by kdzl
Summary: Original Ending to Secrets of the BAU, it didn't work there, but I think it works nicely as a One-Shot. JJ/Hotch.


_**An/ This was the original ending to 'Secrets of the BAU' and while I loved it, I felt like it didn't really fit. So you are getting it as a one shot. Enjoy. **_

_**As ever, I don't own Criminal Minds.**_

* * *

_"Make a bet every day; otherwise you might walk around lucky and never know it."_

_--Jimmy Jones_

JJ sat in her office, nervously fingering the engagement ring on her left hand. Their wedding was one week away, and she had to get through as much paperwork as possible. Sometimes it seemed ironic that while she was having the best days of her life, the people she was working to help were having the worse. She tried to remind herself of what Aaron had told her,that she didn't need to feel guilty for being happy. But sometimes it was hard not to.

She heard a light knock on her door as Garcia let herself into JJ's office. "Jayje, official wedding business, can I wear pink shoes? I know we said silver, but pink would go with the dress so well." Garcia begged, pulling out her phone. "I even took a picture of the ones I want."

"Garcia, I thought the dresses were teal?" JJ asked, confused. She was actually not quite sure what the colors were. While Garcia said that the contrast was high fashion, she didn't think she agreed.

"You won't even notice!" Garcia persuaded. "I'll even get Emily to wear a pair. That way it'll be uniform."

JJ laughed at this idea, there was no way that Emily would give into wearing teal with pink. Garcia and Emily were having a bit of a power struggle, trying to share the duties of 'maid of honor'. JJ hadn't wanted to hurt either one of their feelings and so decided that her two bridesmaids would just share the responsibilities. Truthfully, JJ could have cared less about the wedding, but she had been overridden by her mother, Hotch, and her friends, who all insisted that one day she would at least want the pictures. Both had different ideas of what they wanted JJ and Hotch's wedding to be like. Emily was going for classic while Garcia wanted contemporary. Emily wanted a chocolate cake while Garcia wanted 'Red Velvet' and pineapple. And JJ... JJ didn't know what she wanted. When she said yes to Aaron, she would've been fine to go to Vegas or Atlantic City, but he refused to let them elope. He said that someday in the future, she'd care about her wedding and would wish that she had let her friends and family be a part of it.

But what he hadn't remembered was that JJ was completely apathetic about weddings. And now her friends and family were too involved in the wedding plans. She'd never been one of those girls who were planning their weddings years in advance. Garcia and Emily had to take dictatorial control over the festivity in order for anything to get planned. JJ was so excited to be married to Hotch, she just didn't care about the ceremony. Emily vs. Garcia battles were waged over every little detail, the biggest was where JJ and Hotch would get married, and who would marry them. Emily said that a church wedding would be great, both Hotch and JJ were light Protestant, so a preacher could easily marry them and fulfill Emily's Barbie wedding fantasies. Garcia however, disagreed. She wanted to help Morgan get a clerical license over the Internet so that he could marry them. In her words 'it would be a nice change from those traditional stuffy ceremonies.' JJ really didn't care one way or another, neither did Aaron. They were stuck having to extremists plan their wedding. Finally, JJ's mom decided to intervene and sided with Emily. In order to balance the scales, JJ let Garcia have the pineapple and Red Velvet cake.

She heard of 'Bridezillas' but she thought that they were supposed to be the bride. She and Aaron were the most relaxed people about the wedding, everyone else seemed to be the ones throwing fits. Interesting, since she and Aaron were the two workaholics, yet they were completely easygoing when it came to the upcoming nuptials. If anyone in their partnership was even remotely involved in the planning, Hotch would be the one that knew more about the color pallet than she did.

"Okay, if you can get Emily to agree to it." JJ agreed.

"Don't forget, you have a dress fitting today--we're getting off at four, so be done with your workie stuff." Garcia smile. "Its a good thing you didn't stay with Will. We wouldn't have ever gotten to do this."

JJ laughed at how the concept of work seemed so foreign to Garcia, apparently she and Hotch were the work-a-holics of the BAU after all. Then she thought of what she had said before, about Will. It hadn't been that Will hadn't tried to marry her, he did, several times; but it never felt right. This however, no matter who chaotic, did. Smiling to herself, she decided that it would probably be good to call Hotch and tell him where she was going. Dialing his cell number, she smiled as the familiar voice came onto the line. "Hey."

"Hey." She loved how she could hear him smile when he talked, it lifted her up on her most awful of days. "You know that I could just come to your office?" Hotch pointed out.

"No, because if you do that then I'll have to deal with Morgan asking me if I was putting out in my office." JJ grimaced. "Its awkward."

"Fine, I'll talk to you on the phone, even though I'm 50 feet away in my office." Hotch teased. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I've got a dress fitting. I hope it doesn't take long but it might. I've managed to get out of all of the rest of them, but somehow, I don't think I can miss this one." JJ shrugged. After a moment, she wondered if something Rossi said the other day was true. Did Hotch really know more than she did about their wedding? Deciding to test him, JJ smiled. "Honey, do you know what our wedding colors are?"

"Teal." Hotch laughed. "But Emily and Garcia are having a death match over the other one. It will either be pink or brown. We've spent almost two thousand dollars on several duplicate items, just in case." Hotch smiled as he heard his fiancee gasp is disdain. "JJ, what's the matter?"

JJ let out a low groan. "You aren't supposed to know more than me. I'm supposed to be the one who knows what's going on, not you." JJ said, throwing her hands in the air. "I'm supposed to be the romantic one."

Hotch suppressed a laugh, he loved his finacee but she was far from a romantic. When he first mentioned marriage, she nodded and said that they should do it before December 31 so they could change their filing status. When he had proposed and set out rose petals over their bed, she had gathered them up meticulously, insisting she could make potpourri and give it out as gifts so that she didn't have to buy something. She was everything that he wanted in a wife; even if she was the most practical person he'd ever known. "I only know because Garcia came into my office this morning." He assured her.

"She just left mine." JJ whispered quietly, hoping the woman was out of earshot. "She and Emily need to calm down. I'm curious about how the brown vs. pink debate will go. Especially since there's only a week left."

"My money is on brown." Hotch contemplated. "Your mother tends to side with Emily."

"Yeah. My mom relates to Emily because she's from the East Coast. Emily's also more baby-boomer friendly." JJ said, unconsciously showing off her profiling skills to her fiance. Then something hit JJ, her entire team had put money on not only her after work activities, how her and Will's relationship would end, whether or not JJ would allow Hotch to have a Bachelor Party, and if she and Hotch would get together or not. It was time for some payback. "Twenty dollars on it all ending in tears."

Hotch smiled. Moments like this made him sure that JJ really was the girl for him. "Deal."

* * *

Hours later found JJ stuffed into a small room with _Mary_, the sales associate who had apparently been helping her 'every step of the way'. "Ugh." She groaned, being a natural claustrophobic and encased in a small space with a dress taking up most of the room, she was a panic attack waiting to happen. She didn't think the dress would fit into the cramped space, let alone with her and the bubbly woman that she felt an odd urge to throttle.

"JJ, just put it on." Garcia commanded, sensing JJ's weariness. "You won't know how good it looks unless you try it on once."

"If she had made it to any of the _other_ fittings, we wouldn't have this problem. Instead I had to make Jessica try all of this on, and this is _important._" JJ's mom grumbled slightly. "Honestly Jennifer, a woman should be _excited _about her wedding day!" Her mom argued as Emily and Garcia nodded in agreement.

"Mom, I _am_ excited. I've just been busy." JJ said as she searched for an enterance into the dress, only to have _Mary_ take over slightly.

"Well, _Emily's_ been able to make it to every one of these meetings. If I didn't know any better, I would think you were _making up_ excuses not to be here."

JJ was shoved into the fabric creation while Emily, Garcia, and her mom waited impatiently. They had to get to the cake decorators in an hour and every moment they spent shelled up here was one moment less they could argue about the final details on the cake. She had miraculously been able to avoid all major meetings for the wedding, each time coming up with a more creative excuse than the last. Hotch had chuckled, insisting that Emily and Garcia knew exactly what she was doing, but citing their desire to take over as the reason they hadn't alerted her mother.

"I don't think I'm going to get out of this stall." JJ complained. "I think maybe you should go to the cake meeting without me. I'll just stay in here and try to survive this white mess."

"Jennifer!" Her mom scolded in horror.

"Get your tiny little, butt out here now or so help me, I will call off your wedding." Garcia hissed threateningly.

"You can't do that. I'm co-maid of honor, I would be consulted in that decision." Emily interjected. JJ rolled her eyes though no one could see her, truthfully, she wasn't sure that eloping had been such a bad idea after all.

Stepping out to settle the dispute, JJ took her first look at her in the gown picked for her by her two contentious best friends. When she first saw it, she didn't believe her eyes. JJ had always considered herself attractive, but she looked different. For the first time in her life, she didn't feel just attractive or 'hot' as the guys at the bar always told her. She felt gorgeous. "You guys, this is beautiful."

"Yeah, you said that when you agreed to it." Emily reminded her, giving a knowing look to Garcia. They both were in concurrence that JJ was oblivious to her wedding.

"And you said that the other 4 times we have tried to show it to you." Garcia agreed.

"Well, good job." JJ shrugged, twirling around in the white, beaded gown. "I like how it swishes."

"If only we had known that this was what she was looking for. A dress that swishes." Garcia teased conspiratorially to Emily.

"My daughter," JJ's mom scoffed, "has hopes to be a professional swisher. I'm so proud."

"Hardy-har." JJ retorted, her insult falling short due to the permanenet grin glued to her face because of her excitement. JJ was going to marry the man of her dreams, and now--She was going to do it in a pretty dress. "It glimmers too."

"Yes, it does glimmer." Emily laughed. "Maybe you should change out of it, we have to look at the cake."

"Fine." JJ conceded, taking one last look at herself in her wedding dress before she trailed off to the dressing rooms.

As soon as their blonde friend out of earshot, Garcia leaned over to Emily. "What do you want to bet that JJ is shocked at her pretty her cake is?"

"Twenty bucks says that she calls it 'happy' six times." Emily took on the wager.

"You're on." Garcia agreed. "I call pretty, you get happy. She says either one of those more than six times, there's a winner."

"I say she says 'wonderful'." JJ's mother added, only slightly surprising the other two women. After spending a lot of time with Susan Jareau, they had realized early on where JJ got her competitive spirit.

"Deal." Emily said, reaching her hand out to shake on it. JJ and Hotch's wedding was going to give her more money than March Madness.

* * *

"The girls are out dress shopping and Hotch is locked up into his office, doing work." Morgan smirked, shaking his head. "The guy only has one more week as a free man. I just don't understand it."

"Understand what?" Reid asked in confusion.

"The ball-and-chain is approaching at rapid speed and the man is doing work." Morgan said, shocked at how whipped his man had become. "I don't get it."

"Yes, but what?" Reid demanded again.

"What Morgan is saying that technically, Hotch is still a single man. What he's forgetting is that JJ has had him wrapped around her finger for years." Rossi explained.

"I'm never letting myself get like that." Morgan laughed, leaning back in his chair. "Man was made to run free."

"Actually did you know that polygyny was common place in ancient and traditional cultures until the Roman Empire." Reid stated. "The Roman Cathlioc Church helped bring it to and end, though they still kept several mistresses and concubines. It wasn't until centuries later that the world began to practice monogamy."

"Polygyny? Hold up, I've heard of polygamy, besides, no one cares." Morgan held his hands up in surrender.

"Polygyny is having multiple spouses, polyandry is when a woman has more than one husband. Polygamy--" Reid trailed off.

"Kid, I get it. Just stop." Morgan groaned. "It doesn't matter how many wives I have, I'm not the marrying type."

"All I've got is ex-wives." Rossi mused.

"Now Hotch is crossing over to the dark side." Morgan muttered. "What do you want to bet that he's worse after the wedding?"

"He probably will be. Just think of if JJ ever gets pregnant." Reid laughed.

"I bet that JJ is out of the field the moment they get off the honeymoon." Morgan wagered.

"Not a chance. JJ is way to stubborn to let Hotch tell her what to do." Reid countered.

"No, JJ is semi-reasonable. If Hotch gave her a good reason, she'd listen." Rossi reasoned. "I give it six months."

"Twenty bucks?" Morgan offered.

"Deal." Rossi and Reid said in unison, both sure that they'd win by a landslide.

* * *

**_I hope you liked it! Let me know what you thought._**


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